Never mind the fall chill, two new rooftop bars have opened near downtown Raleigh
The view on Glenwood Avenue just got a lot better.
Raleigh’s nightlife corridor has recently upgraded its airspace with two new rooftop bars.
Earlier this fall the former three-story bar Solas became Botanical, with the top floor bar Highgarden.
More recently, the new AC Hotel on Glenwood just opened The Willard, a cocktail lounge atop the seven-story building.
“The perspective is just different, it’s sort of transporting,” said Craig Spitzer, a co-owner of Early Bird Night Owl, which operates The Durham Hotel, The Mayton in Cary and will oversee The Willard.
The rooftop lounge has seating for more than 100, a two-sided fireplace and a fleet of space heaters as the air turns chilly. The menu focuses on cocktails and tapas, with drinks including a smoky sangria and Doctor’s Orders, a rum, scotch and pineapple drink tapping into the longing for tropical drinks in cool weather.
Bites focus on Spanish-style tapas, including snacks like papas bravas, the famous crispy spiced potatoes, charcuterie, steamed mussels with chorizo, and fried shrimp shakshouka.
On the roof
Rooftops have always been popular spots for diners and drinkers, but the open air and view offered more cache in the time of COVID. Now that the weather is starting to turn, some diners will be heading indoors.
“The desire for people to be outside has been important over the last year,” Spitzer said. “But we also have a large indoor section and space heaters. I can’t think of anything better than sitting by the fire with a hot toddy.”
Solas was an early closing in the pandemic in 2020, as North Carolina bars couldn’t reopen through last year’s spring and summer. Owner Niall Hanley of the Hibernian Hospitality group said the pandemic forced the space in a new direction.
“COVID killed the nightclub movement, so we had to think of something different for Solas,” Hanley said. “It was always doing well, but with COVID it was an opportunity to revamp it.”
Highgarden also focuses on drinks and snacks, serving meat and cheese boards, including local cheeses and Texan Iberico ham, plus mini corndogs and croquettes and crawfish cornbread.
The cocktail list features a half dozen house creations, plus draft cocktail classics like negronis and old fashioned, and a gin and tonic tree that serves six people.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Never mind the fall chill, two new rooftop bars have opened near downtown Raleigh."
